classic waka stream

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  • Kinyo Wakashu

Omoikane kesa wa sora o ya nagamuramu kumo no kayoiji kasumi hedatete

Unable to bear your thoughts, are you gazing at the sky this morning, now that the haze has cut off the path that runs through the clouds?

Kinyo Wakashu

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Ikukaeri hana sakinuramu Sumiyoshi no matsu mo kamiyo no mono to koso kike

How many times must it have flowered? For I have heard that the pine of Sumiyoshi has stood since the age of the gods.

Kinyo Wakashu - Minamoto no Toshiyori

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Masurao wa yamada no io ni oinikeri ima ikuchiyo ni awamu to suramu

The stalwart man has grown old in his hut beside the mountain field; how many more thousands of years does he mean to live to see?

Kinyo Wakashu

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Kakute shimo e zo sumumajiki yamazato no hosotanigawa no kokorobososa ni

I could never go on living here like this, for my heart is as thin and forlorn as the slender stream in this mountain valley.

Kinyo Wakashu

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Kusa no io nani tsuyukeshi to omoikemu moranu iwaya mo sode wa nurekeri

Why did I ever think a grass hut was damp with dew? Even in this rock cave where no rain leaks in, my sleeves are wet.

Kinyo Wakashu - Gyōson

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Haru no koshi sono hi tsurara wa tokenishi o mata nanigoto ni todokōruramu

The ice melted on the very day that spring arrived, so what is it now that keeps things from moving on?

Kinyo Wakashu

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Kono yo ni wa yama no ha izuru tsuki o nomi matsu koto nite mo yaminubeki kana

In this world, it seems, my life will end with nothing but waiting for the moon to rise above the mountain ridge.

Kinyo Wakashu

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Ko no ma moru katawarezuki no honoka ni mo tare ka waga mi o omoiizubeki

Like the light of a half-moon leaking faintly through the trees, would anyone remember me even a little? No one will.

Kinyo Wakashu - Gyōson

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Kasugayama mine tsuzuki teru tsukikage ni shirarenu tani no matsu mo arikeri

The moonlight shines across peak after peak of Mount Kasuga, yet there are pines down in the valley that it never touches.

Kinyo Wakashu - Minamoto no Moromitsu

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Urayamashi ukiyo o idete ikabakari kuma naki mine no tsuki o miruramu

How I envy you! Having left this sorrowful world, how clearly you must be seeing the moon above the cloudless peaks.

Kinyo Wakashu

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Morotomo ni nishi e ya yuku to tsukikage no kuma naki mine o tazunete zo koshi

Hoping that I too might journey west together with the moon, I came seeking these peaks where its light falls without a shadow.

Kinyo Wakashu

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Hayaku yori tanomiwatarishi Suzukagawa omou koto naru oto zo kikoyuru

River Suzuka, in whom I have long placed my trust, now I hear the ringing of your bells that tells me my wish has come true.

Kinyo Wakashu

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Koto no ne ya matsu fuku kaze ni kayouramu chiyo no tameshi ni hikitsubeki kana

Does the sound of the koto blend with the wind blowing through the pines? It should be played and held up as a model of a thousand ages.

Kinyo Wakashu

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Ureshiku mo aki no miyama no akikaze ni uigoto no ne no kayoikeru kana

How glad I am that the autumn wind of the deep autumn mountains has joined with the sound of the koto played for the very first time.

Kinyo Wakashu

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Koto no ne wa tsuki no kage ni mo kayoeba ya sora ni shirabe no suminoboruramu

Is it because the sound of the koto reaches even the moonlight that its melody rises so clear into the sky?

Kinyo Wakashu

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Tamakushige Futami no ura no kai shigemi makie ni miyuru matsu no muradachi

Because Futami Bay is so rich in shells, the clusters of pine trees along its shore look like a design in gold lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Kinyo Wakashu

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